This Week: FedEx Earns, Fed Policy Statement, Housing Starts

A look at some of the key business events and economic indicators upcoming this week:

DELIVER THIS

Wall Street expects that FedEx’s latest quarterly report card will show mixed results.

Analysts predict the package delivery company will report Tuesday that its fiscal first-quarter earnings declined from a year earlier, even as revenue rose. FedEx has benefited from a boom in online shopping as the pandemic drags on. The company recently said it plans to hire up to 70,000 seasonal workers, a big jump from 55,000 last year.

THE FED SPEAKS

The Federal Reserve delivers its latest interest rate policy update and economic assessment Wednesday.

The remarks will follow a two-day meeting of the central bank’s policymakers. At their last meeting in July, policymakers kept the Fed’s key interest rate unchanged at a record low near zero. Fed policymakers also pledged to keep rates low until they are confident that the economy has weathered the pandemic-induced recession.

IF YOU BUILD IT

Builders are starting construction on more new homes and apartments as housing bounces back from a brief stall in the spring.

Construction of new U.S. homes surged 22.6% in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of nearly 1.5 million. That was the fastest pace since February and third monthly increase in a row. Did the trend continue in August? Find out Thursday, when the Commerce Department issues its latest monthly tally of newly started residential construction projects.

Housing starts, monthly, seasonally adjusted annual rate:

March 1,269,000

April 934,000

May 1,038,000

June 1,220,000

July 1,496,000

Aug. (est.) 1,450,000

Source: FactSet